When can perfect state transfer occur?

Abstract

Let $X$ be a graph on $n$ vertices with with adjacency matrix $A$ and let $H(t)$ denote the matrix-valued function $\exp(iAt)$. If $u$ and $v$ are distinct vertices in $X$, we say perfect state transfer from $u$ to $v$ occurs if there is a time $\tau$ such that $|H({\tau})_{u,v}| = 1$. Our chief problem is to characterize the cases where perfect state transfer occurs. We show that if perfect state transfer does occur in a graph, then the spectral radius is an integer or a quadratic irrational; using this we prove that there are only finitely many graphs with perfect state transfer and with maximum valency at most 4K4. We also show that if perfect state transfer from $u$ to $v$ occurs, then the graphs $X\setminus u$ and $X\setminus v$ are cospectral and any automorphism of $X$ that fixes $u$ must fix $v$ (and conversely).